A touch of darkness and a glimmer of light
by Innosense
Summary: May travels to Sinnoh to confront Ash about her feelings but what follows is an interesting and intriguing road of self discovery for the confused girl.Written from Mays point of view. Heavily implied Imageshipping. Read and review.


"That's the second contest in a row I've lost. What's going on?" I asked myself. "It's not like I don't try. I do. But every time I'm about to win I pass out and the judges give Drew or Harley the win by default." I can feel a single tear as it works its way down my face. It feels warm and welcome but at the same time its cold and rejecting. It feels… familiar. I pick myself up as I hear footsteps approach.

"See Drew I told you she'd be here. Wallowing in her own failure." Harley laughed to himself. I just want to punch him so much.

"Easy Harley. Something tells me May isn't in a good frame of mind to be taking insults." Drew said, his hands were in front of him making a downward pushing motion.

My hand was already in motion. I felt Harley's jaw with my knuckles as I punched him as hard as I could.

"Owww. Damn I think I broke my hand." I said as I gritted my teeth and shook my hand. Harley was sprawled on the floor. "Asshole. Thanks Drew."

"No problem." He motioned over to the bleachers of the contest hall. I followed him over and sat with him. "I just want to know what's going on. You seem distracted."

I shook my head. "My problem. I'll solve it and be back to my A-game in a few days." I stood up and offered my hand to Drew. He stood up and took it. "I'll see you in a couple of weeks Drew. I'm heading to Sinnoh." I told him as I shook his hand.

"You're chasing him aren't you? Alright May. Good luck to you." He told me as he released my hand. "See you 'round May."

I nodded. "Thanks Drew. Unlike Harley you're a true friend." I told him right before I ran out of the hall.

I shielded my eyes from the sunlight as I looked around Olivine city. "Best be getting to the docks." I told myself. I spotted the docks entrance on the far side of town so I ran as fast as I could to get there. "Good thing I don't have to keep dragging Max around." I laughed.

Hearing the ships foghorn I panicked and pumped my legs even harder. I raced through the docks entrance and powered through the building, stopping only to see if the ship that was leaving was bound for Sinnoh. "It is. And it's pulling away from the docks!" I sprinted to the docks, running alongside the ship when I got outside. I spotted a light post up ahead and figured I'd try something.

"I hope his penchant for stupid ass behavior also rubbed off on me." I hoped as I jumped at the light post and grabbed it with one hand, swinging myself around, my hair was pushed over my eyes by the force of the spin. "I can't see!" I screamed before I let go and hoped I wouldn't end up soaking wet in the ocean. The last thing I remember is hearing the thwump noise when I landed followed by intense pain to the back of my head and darkness consuming my vision.

I woke up a few hours later in a cabin on the ship. Apparently I landed on the deck but my I kept on sliding and hit my head on the far railing. It'll take two days to pass through Hoenn and another three before we even enter Sinnoh's waters.

* * *

One week and a quick stop in Snowpoint city later and I've arrived. And who should be waiting at the port I'm pulling into but Ash and Brock. I only saw them for a split second outside my window as we turned into port but I'm fairly certain I saw a girl with them. She wasn't very good to look at from what I saw. "Oh well." I shrugged. "I'll figure out more once I disembark the ship."

"This is the ship's captain speaking, we have arrived at the lake front hotel docks. Please gather all your personal belongings and leave the ship. Thank you." The intercom behind me buzzed.

I got off the chair I was sitting on and opened the wardrobe. I pulled my clothes off the hangar and got dressed. Instead of my green bandanna I put on my old red one and substituted my vest for my old shirt. I folded the green bandanna and my vest and stowed them in my pack. I pulled my gloves on then ran to the front of the ship. Ash, Brock and the girl were still there.

I stepped back twice and sprinted to the edge of the Bow. I stepped up onto the railing and vaulted off the ship. I landed right in front of the three of them. Brock looked shocked, the girl looked at me with admiration while Ash… well he seemed different. He looked on with casual indifference. Pikachu came running up to me though.

"Pika ka! Pika ka!" He shouted at me. I bent down and held out my arms. He jumped into them and nuzzled my cheek. Something felt off though. Like Pikachu was the only one who was enjoying me being here. No one else said anything to me. Instead they all turned and started to walk off. Only Brock seemed to linger a few seconds before he did. Like he wanted to tell me something.

Pikachu just scowled at them. Something was wrong. That's when I noticed Pikachu had something tied around his neck. A piece of string. On the back was Ash's half of Ribbon that he and I tied for. On the front was a Pokéball with a lightning bolt on the front. I pulled the ribbon off first and found a note on the back of it.

I stowed the ribbon in my pack and read the note. In Ash's unmistakable handwriting he'd written. 'He's yours now.' I gathered the Pokéball attached must be Pikachu's. "Is Ash abandoning you Pikachu?" I asked. When Pikachu responded a sudden moment of clarity allowed my mind to translate everything he said. "So you're pissed off that Ash is giving more attention to Dawn the he is to you. You tried to pry them apart so Ash renounced trainership of you? That's terrible. You still want him to be your trainer huh?"

"Pika." He nodded, the anger gone from his eyes, replaced by sadness. He was just about crying when I plucked the Pokéball off his neck and returned him. "Well not much we can do about it now."

I walked up to the hotel and found a vid phone. I called home and sent Skitty back to keep Max company before I clipped Pikachu's ball onto my hip.

After I ended the call I released Pikachu. He just shook his head. "You don't like going into your Pokéball do you?" I asked.

Pikachu just shook his head and jumped onto my shoulder.

"Well there's going to be a contest here. Shall we make sure Ash and Dawn enter and disgrace them?" I asked.

"Pikachu." He nodded.

"Great. First things first though." I yawned. "Let's get some sleep." I went up to the concierge and booked a room for the duration of the contest.

As I lay down to sleep, Pikachu curled up next to me.

I woke up the next morning to Pikachu nudging me. He pointed out the window. I looked out and saw Ash and Dawn being harassed by Team Rocket. "Well don't that just suck… for them. They've got no way to blast them off now. C'mon. Let's try and sneak past. I'll probably have to return you to your ball but at least then Team Rocket won't bother us." I told Pikachu as I got dressed, my green bandanna on my head felt good for some reason. So did my vest, it felt… lighter than my shirt. Pikachu looked at me and nodded, already he trusted my judgment. I unclipped his ball from my hip and returned him.

As I turned around someone punched me. The last thing I saw as I collapsed was my attacker's shoes, then the darkness overtook my vision.

When I came to I realised my arms and legs were tied up. I was ready to tear Harley a new ass. "You little shit Harley, big man followed me all the way here for a revenge punch. Well you got it! You can go!" I felt something trickle from my mouth so I licked at it. "Iron? I'm bleeding. Goddamn it Harley untie me and I'll show you real pain!"

The voice that responded wasn't Harley's. "Calm down May. I needed to talk to you and this was the only way I could do it without you walking off."

"Brock? Taken to getting your dates by knockout?" I wasn't any less upset but Brock wouldn't resort to this without good reason.

"Ha ha. Very funny. Listen. I know why you came. You came to admit to Ash that you love him. Well. Tough luck. Him and that girl, Dawn. They're an item. Pikachu doesn't like that he'd pick Dawn over you or Misty so he's been giving Ash a hard time about it." Brock told me.

"What do you mean a hard time?" I asked. My rage had subsided somewhat but I wasn't going to let Brock get away with punching me.

"Ignoring his orders during battles, shocking him and Dawn if they got to close to each other. It finally culminated when Pikachu threw a battle by directing a shock at a gym leader causing Ash to be disqualified for unsafe battling. Ash has been waiting for a week for you to show up so he could give you Pikachu." Brock explained, but it didn't make sense. I had only told Drew about my plans to come here.

"How did you know I was coming? Also would it kill you to untie me?" I asked him.

"Harley gave us a call." Brock said as he untied me.

"Harley?" So I didn't knock that shit out with my punch.

"Harley." Brock repeated as he stood back up.

I pulled myself up and punched Brock as hard as I could in the stomach. "Thanks for the info, Now we're even."

"You're thanking me by punching me in the stomach?" He gasped, hunched over.

"I would have punched you in the face like you did to me. But the info sweetened the deal." I said as I walked over and looked out the window. Ash, Dawn and Team Rocket were gone. I released Pikachu and walked out, Pikachu growled at Brock as we left.

I stepped onto the street and looked around. The hall for the contest was due west of my current position. I started walking towards it but I couldn't shake the feeling I was being followed. Pikachu was on my shoulder so I knew it couldn't be him. We made it to the hall when Pikachu went flying off my shoulder, skidded and slammed into the wall.

As I turned I felt myself being lifted into the air. It was getting harder to breathe as well. That's when I noticed the gloved hand around my throat. "Ash Ketchum. Heh." I wheezed. "What do you want?"

"Don't enter this contest May." He told me. "Dawn and I are entering the couples battle division. I don't want you messing with Dawns chance at her first ribbon." He almost sounded like my father.

"Oh really?" I said back. That was all I got to say before I ran out of breath.

"Really." He said back coldly.

Using the last of my consciousness I swung one of my legs forward and brought it back into Ash's crotch. He let go of me as he curled up into a ball. I was on all fours gasping for breath when Pikachu woke up and ran over to me.

"Pi-ka-chu?" He asked me.

I took a deep breath. "I'm fine. Just need… to catch my breath." I pushed myself up and stumbled around to the other side of the hall where I leant against the wall and let my lungs fill with air. Something felt strange though. Like a part of me had changed. Broken, and then been reassembled wrong.

When I felt I could breathe again I crept to the edge of the corner and peeked around. I saw Dawn and Brock helping Ash up but there was someone else. I edged around the circular wall a little more and saw Misty was standing there watching.

I motioned Pikachu to jump on my shoulder, I felt happy when I felt the electric types weight on my shoulder. Like I still had a friend. I headed through the bushes to avoid another confrontation with Ash.

It took a minute or two to navigate the bushes but when I poked my head out I was right next to Misty. I grabbed her arm and pulled her into the bushes.

"Hey. What are…?" Was all she got to say. Before I put my hand over her mouth and lead her off.

I took her around the back of the hall and let go of her.

"What the hell May? Ash called me two weeks ago because he needed to talk to me. I get here and you drag me off." Misty said, she was fuming.

"Pikachu pi! Pikachu pi!" Pikachu called out before he leapt onto Misty's shoulder and licked her cheek.

"Pikachu is what he wanted to talk about. He renounced trainership of Pikachu to me." I told her.

"Taurosshit! Ash would never do that." Misty angrily glared at me as I pulled Ash's note out of my pack.

"Here, read this." I told her as I handed her the note. She took it angrily and read the three words on the piece of paper. I watched the sadness in her eyes grow.

"Why would he do this?" Misty asked me.

"You'd have to ask Brock. He told me but all you need to know right now is that Ash is going out with that blue haired girl and Pikachu didn't like that. Now they're entering this contest's doubles division. I want to beat them but I don't have a partner." I told her. "Maybe I should give Drew a call."

Misty stopped me. "I'll be your partner. Ash doesn't deserve to win this contest."

I nodded. "I didn't have a reason to target him specifically but after the choke hold he put me in I do." I said as I massaged my throat. "I just want to show Ash up with Pikachu." I grabbed her shoulders. "Look Ash doesn't know you're here so can you…" I began.

"You want me to find out what their plan for the contest is.?" Misty guessed.

"No. Ash told me about the underwater ballet you starred in. He told me you were a great actress. I need you to act like you don't know I'm here. Tell him you're going to stay to watch the contest. He trusts you, tells you some things we can use against them and then we thrash them in the finals." I laid my plan out.

"But they'll know it's us as soon as they call the contestants names." Misty thought aloud.

"No. Doubles apparently use team names. Ash and Dawn are Diamond and Pearl. We need a team name." I thought as I brought up the registry on my Pokénav using my finalists access program.

"How about ruby and Sapphire?" Misty suggested.

I knew where she was coming from, half way. She was alluding to her hair color for ruby but the sapphire reference lost me. Still it worked so I thought what the hell? "That could work. We won't reveal ourselves till the final round… if we make it. Ash and Dawn have a high chance to make it. C'mon lets go register then we can start your training." I told her as I lead her around to the entrance.

We registered no problem. We also got a little bonus. "Since I've been in two grand festivals I was given an option to set a rival match for our team. I chose Ash and Dawn of course. So if one of us gets eliminated we can have a rivals match after the contest." I told Misty using the match call on my Pokénav.

"That's great it sounds like an awesome bonus." She responded before she bumped into someone and dropped her phone.

The voice that came through the speaker next was unmistakable. It made me panic that our plan would unwind already.

"What's awesome Misty?" I heard him say.

"Ash." Misty said back. "Fancy bumping into you here."

"Better you than May." He said coldly. "Who are you talking to?"

"One of my sisters. Daisy is heading up the gym while I'm here." Misty lied. "She just called to tell me that Tracey dropped off a little too much Pokémon food by accident." She lied again.

Ash huffed.

"So where's Pikachu?" Misty asked as she picked up her phone. She closed it but rotated the camera so I could see what was going on.

"Professor Oak needed his help with some unruly electric types so he's with oak for now." Ash lied through his teeth. "Anyway I don't have any business with you." He told her.

"But you called me and told me to come down here?" Misty seemed a little upset as she said it.

"I solved the problem on my own. You can head back to Kanto if you want." Ash told her. "But Dawn and I have to start training for the contest."

Dawn walked up beside Ash and pecked his cheek, much to Misty's chagrin.

"I see." Misty said as she gritted her teeth. "So you to are going out I take it?"

"Yeah. Sorry to cut you out Misty. I know you had feelings for me but you waited too long." Ash said, sounding as sorry as he looked.

Misty flipped out at that remark. I couldn't understand what she was saying but I saw what she was doing. She unloaded all her fury onto Ash with her fists. And he just stood there and blocked every punch before he locked her arms behind her back.

"Once again Misty. I win." He said before he let her go and walked off with Dawn in tow.

I vanished into the bushes again and made my way to Misty. When I found her she was crying in the middle of the road. I helped her up and took her back to my hotel room.

The feeling of wrongness came back as I was helping Misty down the road. I felt nervous and shaky. My heart beating faster than normal and I felt a slight blush while I was touching her. I used to feel that way around Drew and Ash.

She collapsed onto the bed when I got her there and fell right asleep. The out of place feeling vanished when I wasn't touching her. My heart beat slowed and my face went back to normal. Pikachu nudged her until I stopped him. I picked her up again and tucked her in so she would be more comfortable.

Sighing I stripped off and went to have a shower in the suite. The warm water calmed me down and relaxed me. "Am I usually this stressed before a contest?" I asked myself. I grabbed the bar of soap and glided it across my skin. It seemed to wash away the days troubles. Washing my hair felt like it was fixing me. "But what is it fixing?"

After I washed my hair I wrapped myself in a towel and went to gather my clothes off the floor. Misty had woken up and was giving Pikachu a hug when I walked in.

"So that's where you disappeared to." She said, her eyes were bloodshot from crying.

"Yeah. You fell asleep as soon as we reached the bed so I went and had a shower." I told her.

She looked me over. "You know you look good with your hair down. Maybe keep it that way for the contest."

I laughed. "Maybe. Make it harder for them to find out who I am."

I put my clothes away, got dried then pulled on a bra and panties to sleep in. It was getting late so we crawled into the bed with our backs facing each other.

"Not much room with both of us here." Misty laughed nervously.

"I'll get the hotel to send up a bed tomorrow." I told her before we fell asleep.

When I woke up the next day I found we had both rolled over and were now only inches from each other's face. I could feel my face turning red. I scurried back and fell on the floor with a thump. Fortunately I only woke Pikachu, who was sleeping on the end of the bed. I went to the mirror in the bathroom and found myself blushing. I freaked out a little.

Misty woke up a few minutes later while I was still freaking out. She laughed and asked me if I was doing a pre-training ritual.

I told her what happened and she just laughed again. "I've always been told that I look like an angel when I'm asleep." she laughed.

It was true, she did.

I shook the thought out of my head. "C'mon. Get ready. We've got brainstorming to do." I reminded her as I got dressed. I woke Pikachu and let him up on my shoulder.

"What about breakfast?" Misty asked me.

"Breakfast can wait. Room service doesn't serve breakfast till eight o'clock. It's only seven now." I told her.

After she got dressed we headed out to a park by the lake and decided on the Pokémon we were going to use and in which round.

"My Azurill is cute so I could use it in the appeals round?" Misty surmised.

"Does it know any attacks?" I asked her.

"Not to my knowledge." She sighed.

I handed her my Pokédex and showed her how to use the scan function on it.

"Azurill" Dextina chimed. "Moves: water sport, bubble, charm and mud shot."

"Using bubble and then popping them with water sport would make a pretty good appeal." I advised.

"I guess. You'd know better than me. You are the expert here." She smiled at me.

"I'm probably going to use my Glaceon in the appeals round then mix up my other Pokémon in the battles and finally end with Pikachu in the finals." I told her.

"Then I'll use Gyrados in the battles and end with my newest Pokémon." She concluded.

"Oh idea." I perked up. "Bubble, pop bubble with water sport, I freeze water sport with Ice beam and make crystals fall."

"That sounds great, and the picture in my head is lovely." She nodded.

"Now we just have to practice it." I said as I looked at my Pokénav. "After Breakfast of course." I said as I got up off the hill we were seated on.

She nodded again as she got up and started walking back to the hotel.

I followed, and to prove bad luck comes in three's I spotted Ash and Dawn walking towards us. As we passed by everything seemed to slow down. I hear a small bzzzt and watch Dawn jump a bit. It took me a second to realize that Pikachu had shocked her.

She turned and glared at Pikachu. Pikachu glared back and Ash glared at me. I glared at Dawn and Misty glared at Ash. Without saying anything we all just turned and went back on our way.

While no one said anything we knew what had just happened. A challenge had been set. Ash and Dawn didn't know it yet but we were going to meet it.

After breakfast we practiced all day to try and get the timing for our appeal down.

"It's not as easy as professionals like you make it look." Misty said.

"No it's not. It took a lot of patience to get me where I am now." I told her. "We're getting closer though. We were only off by about half a second that time. And don't worry about missed bubbles. We can work them into the act with Glaceons ice beam."

"Okay. One more time?" She asked.

"Once more." I confirmed.

We nailed it. We got the timing down and did it three more times to make sure we were not just fluking it.

"All right!" We both cheered before yawning. We looked at each other and smiled before we headed back to our hotel room. Misty's bed had arrived by then.

"All we need now are the outfits we're going to wear." Misty said.

I smirked at her. "Way ahead of you." I opened the wardrobe and pulled out two Arabian princess outfits, complete with face veils. "Normally I wear the red one for appeals and the green one for battles but we'll both need a costume. Don't worry. It's clean." I assured her as I handed her the red one. "I'll dye the green one blue and let it dry overnight."

"You have a nice taste in outfits." She told me. "and I really do mean that."

"Thanks. Come on let's get some sleep. The contest appeal rounds are tomorrow." I told her.

"All right." She nodded.

We settled into our beds and fell asleep.

The next morning we were up early and in costume. We headed down to the contest hall and found Ash and Dawn already there.  
Ash looked smart in a brown suit and hat combo while Dawn went more for the cutesy look in a pink dress with a blue hair ribbon.

"So you two are Ruby and Sapphire?" Dawn asked. "I'm Pearl, and my boyfriend here is Diamond."

"Pleasure." Ash said.

We had already discussed how we would go about if Ash and Dawn tried to talk to us and had built voice changers into our necklaces. We sounded like we came from a rich family in Johto.

"A pleasure indeed Diamond." I said. "My sister and I look forward to facing you in the battle round should things turn out that way."

"So you two are sisters?" Dawn seemed surprised. "That's would explain the matching costumes."

"Indeed it would." Misty said. "You said this handsome young man was your boyfriend. You do look like a couple in those costumes."

"We do don't we?" Ash chuckled, displaying the first sign of emotion I'd seen since I arrived three days ago.

"Wait a minute." I said. "I thought I recognized the two of you." I pointed at Ash. "You're Ash Ketchum, trainer extraordinaire. And you." I pointed to Dawn. "Are Dawn, amateur Coordinator."

"Yes we are." Ash smiled. "Glad to see our names are famous."

"What about you? Do you have any experience in contests?" Dawn asked.

"I do. I'm quite famous among the contest circuit but you won't find out who I am just yet." I told them. "As for my sister. This is her first contest."

"It is, truth be told." Misty responded. "My sister here is quite famous but I'm not. I usually spend my days on the beach, studying water Pokémon."

The other coordinators started arriving and filled the reception hall.

"Will the coordinators participating in the doubles division please make their way to the prep room." The intercom buzzed.

We made our way to the prep room and waited for the announcer to call us out to appeal.

The judges were introduced to the crowd. The usual crew was joined by Wallace, former leader of the Sootopolis city gym back in Hoenn and proprietor of the Wallace cup.

"First doubles team to appeal is Diamond and Pearl." The intercom buzzed again.

I watched Ash and Dawn walk out of the prep room. The T.V. that lets us watch the stage came on and showed them walking on.

"So the twerp is here." I heard a familiar voice say.

"But still no sign of Pikachu. He told us that Pikachu would be here." Another familiar voice said.

Misty nudged me and motioned towards a pair of garishly dressed coordinators.

"You seen them before?" She asked me.

"Jessalina and Jameson. Complete amateurs at battling but Jessalina can get through the appeals round." I told her. "But the use of the word twerp makes me think they're not who they say they are."

Ash and Dawn had already started their appeal and fused Buizel's aqua jet with Pachirisu's thunderbolt to create a sparkling rain.

"Similar to our plan but not quite." Misty remarked.

I nodded as Ash and Dawn came back in.

"Next team is Ruby and Sapphire." The intercom buzzed.

"That's us." Misty remarked.

Everyone parted to let us through. I heard Ash wish us good luck as we walked out.

"Save the luck for yourself." I muttered.

We walked out onto the stage and began our appeal. We nailed it one hundred percent this time. Misty's Azurill hit every bubble with water sport and my Glaceon froze every droplet as it came back down. The sparkle around the hall was amazing. The crowd was going nuts and the judges were absolutely taken aback. Wallace it seemed was particularly amazed.

"Such mastery of water and ice. I thought I was the only trainer capable of such grace. Bravo." Wallace applauded.

When we walked back to the prep room everyone congratulated us on our appeal. Jameson was particularly impressed with our use of two similar elements to such a great effect.

"Hmmph." Jessalina huffed. "Amateurs."

"Come on Jessalina. It's not like we could do better." Jameson said.

"We can and we will." Jessalina yelled at her partner.

"Next team is Dawn to Dusk." The intercom buzzed.

"Hey that's us." An orange haired girl exclaimed.

"Zoey?" Dawn seemed shocked.

"Me to Dee Dee." Said a brown haired boy.

"Kenny too?" Dawn seemed absolutely destroyed.

"Hope we'll meet in the finals." Zoey said, shaking Ash's hand.

"Yeah but something tells me it's going to be Diamond and Pearl vs. Ruby and Sapphire." Kenny shrugged.

They walked out onto the stage as Ash tried to calm Dawn down.

Zoey sent out a Misdreavous and Kenny sent out an Alakazam. Zoey had Misdreavous use shadow ball and Kenny made Alakazam hit the shadow ball with a psybeam, causing a fireworks-esque explosion.

"That's similar to what May did back in Terracotta town with her Eevee." Ash remarked.

"It is isn't it?" I absentmindedly said aloud.

When they came back in everyone loved their performance and asked them what their inspiration for it was.

"To tell the truth." Zoey chuckled. "I actually got the idea from the Terracotta contest. I watched a coordinator named May use an Eevee to pull it off."

"Next team is Speed of light." The intercom buzzed.

"That's us." Jessalina cooed.

"Great." Sighed Jameson.

"Time to see how good they really are." Misty whispered to me.

They put on a good show surprisingly.

Jameson had his Cacnea shoot pin missile at Jessalina's Dustox, which used Safeguard to deflect the pins into the walls, floor and ceiling to create four simultaneous hearts.

After them the contest wound down fairly quickly and the judges came up with eight teams to proceed to the quarter finals.

"Will all the teams please move to the stage." The intercom buzzed.

We all moved to the stage and faced the judges.

Wallace stood up. "The following four teams took first, second, third and fourth in that order. Ruby and Sapphire, Diamond and Pearl, Dawn to Dusk and Speed of light. The four teams I just named you proceed to the quarter finals and will not meet each other in battle until later. If any of you beat the other four teams that is. You are free to go while we announce the other teams."

The eight of us walked out into the lobby and breathed a sigh of relief. Well most of us did. Jessalina and Ash stood off to one side talking while Zoey, Dawn and Kenny had a chat. Jameson approached us and we had a quick talk until the other coordinators came out. A lot of them were grumbling but we managed to pick out the other four teams based on facial reactions. We even found out who we were up against by noticing who they looked at.

Misty and I headed back to our hotel room and fell right asleep. Physically we were fine but we were just mentally drained from the timing and waiting.

When I woke the next morning I found myself face to face with Misty again. I didn't panic this time I just felt my face go red again. She mumbled and started pawing around like she was looking for something. Her hand landed on my back, tapped a few times and then hooked and pulled me closer. She snuggled into me then kissed my forehead. I went even redder. I tried to get up but she just kept pulling me back down.

When she awoke a few minutes later she let go and looked at me.

"I thought that felt too real to be a dream." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"I had a dream where I was a little girl again. I was hugging my favorite stuffed toy, a stuffed Pikachu." She explained.

"you dropped it and began pawing the ground looking for it. You grabbed me and your mind translated that into the dream." I finished.

"Yeah pretty much." She chuckled nervously. "I didn't do anything embarrassing did I?"

I thought back to the kiss she gave my forehead. "No. Not at all."

Misty breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. I've done some stupid shit when I'm asleep."

We swapped stories about the weird stuff we've done when we're asleep while we were getting dressed.

"Let's go the battles start today." I hurried her along.

The battles went by fairly quickly. All eight of us won our matches so the Semi final matches were Misty and I versus Zoey and Kenny, With Ash and Dawn versus Jessalina and Jameson.

After we got changed we headed out to do some training in our regular outfits. We passed Ash and Dawn on the way to the park we were using for training again. Another quick bzzzt later and Dawns Piplup blasted her in the face with a jet of water.

I lost it. I fell to the ground laughing with Pikachu next to me. Ash wasn't pleased as Dawn buried herself in him, which made me laugh even harder.

"You're so pathetic Dawn. Seeking comfort from him." I laughed. "Look at what he did to Pikachu. The first Pokémon he ever got. And now he's got you sitting on his shoulder."

Ash threw a punch at me but I squirmed out of the way and heard a thud as it impacted the concrete beneath. He quickly pulled his hand up, mumbling something and walked off with Dawn crying behind him.

"After that I'm suddenly tired." I yawned. "That should throw them off tomorrows battle."

"Come on." Misty said, extending her hand to me. "Let's head back to the hotel."

I took her hand and she pulled me up. "We need to be at our best."

We headed up to our hotel room, Misty had a shower before me. When I came out she was already asleep so I just dried myself off and crawled into bed naked.

I woke early again the next morning and again noticed that we had rolled over again. But we were closer this time, our lips practically touching and our noses overlapped. My heart began to race. I reached up and stroked her cheek. She looked so beautiful. I tried to bring myself to touch my lips to hers but couldn't. I sat up and shook my head. "Tomorrow." I told myself. "Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow what?" Misty yawned.

"Tomorrow… we'll beat Ash and Dawn in the contest." I stammered.

"Psyching yourself up." Misty asked as she looked at me quizzically. "Probably better to do it in front of a mirror when you're fully clothed."

I cast a glance on myself and blushed. "Well I just woke up. Besides I fell asleep naked. What's your excuse?" I asked as she sat up, completely naked as well.

"Same as yours." She giggled. She began to say something else but my attention was elsewhere.

The cracks of sunlight that streamed through our blinds caught on every angle of her skin and made it glisten. The light illuminated her from behind. Her hair would make sure that any lucky enough to see her in such light could mistake her for an angel. Combine that with her sparkling green eyes and you get the impression of an innocent little girl behind the tough façade she put on. She was so beautiful.

"May are you listening?" She snapped.

"What?" I asked.

"What's going on up there?" She asked as she knocked on my head.

"You're asking the wrong person." I told her with a sheepish grin on my face.

"Ugh. I think you spent a bit too much time around Ash when you travelled with him. His empty headedness tends to wear off on you." She sighed. "Doesn't matter. I didn't say anything important."

"You sure?" I asked.

"One hundred percent." She clarified. She then leant over and gave me a small peck on the lips. "That's for luck in the battles." She stated.

I lost all feeling to my legs and arms and fell backwards. Then blackness.

I felt myself regaining conscious control of my body, like I'd just woken up from being asleep. Misty was sitting over me calling my name with worry, as was Pikachu. She was fully clothed in her costume. I looked around. Still a bit groggy. I sat up and noticed that I was dressed in my costume as well. "What happened?" I asked.

"I don't know." She told me. "I gave you a small kiss for luck on both our parts then you just lost consciousness after your face turned red. You sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine yeah. Just a little messed up in the head that's all." I said absentmindedly.

"I'll say." Misty said. "If I didn't know better I'd say you had a crush on me."

"I don't know. I think I do." I started to confess, my eyes dropping to the floor. "Ever since Ash choked me I've felt strange. Like the part of me that decides who I like got broken while he was choking me. The pieces were then put back together wrong. And when I picked you up while you were crying on the road it felt like the one missing piece fell back into place." When I looked back up she was staring at me like a newly discovered Pokémon. "Please don't look at me like that." I said as my eyes began to tear up. "I didn't want to fall in love with you. But I did." I broke down into sobs at that point.

The next thing I know I'm being lifted off the ground and back onto my feet, which is then followed by a hug. "I wasn't judging you May. I was trying to figure out if it truly was the trauma that changed you." Misty assured me. She put her hand under my chin and raised my gaze from the floor to her eyes.

She drew her face closer to mine. I felt my heart start to race again. She tilted her face at a slight angle to allow our noses to pass by. Our lips touched and we meet in a full kiss. It felt like some part of me just woke up from a long slumber. I placed my hands on her shoulders and pushed us apart.

"It wasn't the trauma, I've always liked other girls. I just spent so long trying to convince myself otherwise, so my parents wouldn't find out, that I actually tricked myself into believing that it was boys I was after." I said, I could hear my own voice again. For once the words didn't ring hollow. "Thank you Misty. You helped me knock down the last piece of that barrier." I began to cry as I embraced her. I wasn't sad though. I was happy. Happier than I'd ever been.

She wiped the tears from my eyes and put a finger on my lips to shush me. "Come now. The contest will be starting soon."

I nodded and put on my necklace and face veil.

Misty and I were called out to battle Zoey and Kenny first. Misty's Gyrados knocked out Kenny's Prinplup fairly easily and my Glaceon made short work of Zoey's Leafeon.

After the battle Zoey came up to me.

"You seemed a lot more focused out there today than you were yesterday." She told me.

I nodded. "Just a little personal problem that's all." I lied.

Zoey nodded back. "Yeah they can be real distracting." She leant in close to me and dropped her voice to a whisper. "Between you and me that's why Dawn still hasn't won a contest ribbon. She's trying to live up to her mother's reputation."

Ash and Dawn went out against Jessalina and Jameson. It wasn't even really a battle. It was a massacre. Ash and Dawn blitzed a win.

We were all summoned out to the contest floor for the results.

Wallace was handed and envelope, purely for dramatic effect, and busted out one line that would be heard across the world.

"Blowing away their opponents like a sand storm, our finalists will be our four little gems in the desert, Ruby and Emerald versus Diamond and Pearl!

We went out into the reception hall. Jessalina and Jameson had slunk off to lick their wounds, Kenny, Dawn and Misty were off exchanging tips for raising water types while Me, Ash and Zoey were discussing the battles. After a good five or so minutes we all said our goodbyes and walked off.

"Oh and Diamond, Pearl. The niceties stop now." I told them. "Our match will be a rivals match. Which means a solid platform." I called back as we walked out the door.

Back at the hotel I sat on the roof with Blaziken, watching the stars as Blaziken fused the two halves of the Terracotta ribbon back together with a small jet of flame.

After I finished I walked back into our room and found Misty asleep with Pikachu curled up on the end of the bed. I walked over and stripped down to my bra and Panties, pausing only to pat Pikachu and kiss Misty on the cheek before I crawled into my bed and fell asleep.

When I woke up I found we hadn't rolled over during the night. I woke Misty and we went out and did some early training before we came back to have some breakfast. After breakfast we pulled our costumes over our reveal clothes. The bulge of the Terracotta ribbon sticking out from where I stuck it on my shirt.

When we arrived we were ushered into a darkened hall where we waited for Ash and Dawn. When they arrived we were told to put up an item each for the rivals rules. I laid my red bandanna on the table, Misty laid a special version of her gyms badge on the table.

Since we were the challenge issuers we could pick what we wanted our opponents to lay down

"Dawn!" I called out. "Lay your contest pass on the table."

"Ash!" Misty called "Lay your Cascade and Balance badges on the table."

The crowd gasped but Ash and Dawn did as we told them to.

After the lights flickered on Misty and I pulled off our costumes.

Misty was wearing a long red dress with her hair tied in a ponytail at the back with a ruby studded tiara and the water tribe bracelet Lizabeth gave me.

I was wearing a flowing blue dress with my hair done normally but with Sapphire studded ribbons on the ends of my hair, I had the Terracotta ribbon pinned to my right breast and a brooch that Lizabeth made me to remember Manaphy by pinned over my heart. Around my neck was a gold necklace with a Pokéball hanging from the end

Listening to everyone gasp was enjoyable but my real joy came from Ash's face when he saw who we were. He was furious. Dawn had a look of shock on her face that would never leave my mind.

"Unbelievable folks! It seems our two mystery coordinators are seemingly world famous figures. May, known worldwide as Hoenn's princess is a professional coordinator who has taken part in two grand festivals. It seems that bad luck streak in Johto has ended. The other coordinator is actually a gym leader from Kanto. Kanto's resident mermaid, Misty. The youngest sister of the four Cerulean sisters, she made a name for herself coming second in the whirl cup in Johto." The arena announcer, Marion, said.

"I should have seen it coming." Wallace sighed. "Beauty and grace such as mine can only be beaten by those of such professions. I must say from the point of a former gym leader myself that Misty's gym is held in high regards among water trainers and gym leaders alike. And to be in even the same city as May is an honor."

Misty seemed flattered by the praise but I was focused. I was going to take Ash down.

"Time for the opening ceremony." I remarked. "Ash you're up first."

"Right." He scowled. "Charizard! All eyes are on you!" He called out as he released Charizard. The ball capsule created a raging inferno behind the dragon as it roared. The crowd enjoyed the show of power.

"Dawn." Misty said.

"Right." She scowled at us too. "Piplup! Spotlight!" Piplup landed as the ball capsule sent blue sparks around Piplup's body. The crowd were enticed by the contrast of the types.

"A type match up and a type contrast from Diamond and Pearl. Will Ruby and Sapphire be able to beat them?" Marion asked.

"Misty." Ash said.

"Mmhmm." She nodded. "Before I release my Pokémon. Ash I took two weeks to get here because I decided to take a weeklong tour of Hoenn. I met and old man named old swampy. When I mentioned your name he gave me a Pokéball with a Pokémon in it. So may I introduce… my graceful brute!" Misty released the Pokémon. Her ball capsule created a smoke screen that hid her Pokémon from view. When the smoke cleared Misty announced. "Time to shine Swampert!" The crowd ooh-ed and ah-ed as it sat there. Looking as if it were hunting.

A Swampert stood up on its hind legs and surveyed the arena. "Swamp" It bellowed.

Ash cringed. He hadn't planned for this. He probably also hadn't planned for Pikachu.

"My turn." I announced. I pulled the Pokéball from my necklace.

"What's this?" Marion announced. "That Pokéball has no ball capsule!"

"Take the stage!" I yelled my catchphrase. "Pikachu!"

Pikachu came out of his Pokéball sparkling before he loosed a flower of electricity he had been storing since this morning so he wouldn't be tired out.

Marion was shielding her eyes. "An amazing display of a Pokémon's natural power! It's no wonder May is such an exemplary coordinator!

The crowd went nuts. I was a little surprised at the reaction I got. But I quickly remembered. With the invention of ball capsules to make stunning entrances for them, the people of Sinnoh had forgotten how truly amazing a Pokémon's true power could be.

"P- Pikachu?" Ash took an involuntary step back.

"What's the matter Ash? Amazed I can handle Pikachu better than you?" I teased.

He growled.

"Timer set for ten minutes. All four points' bars are active." Marion announced as the big screen switched from a close up of our faces to the status screen. "Battle begin!"

Ash and Dawn wasted no time going on the offensive, Ash ordered Charizard to use fire blast on my Pikachu while Dawn had Piplup use whirlpool on Misty's Swampert.

"Swampert, Hydro cannon!" Misty ordered. Swampert knew where to aim and let loose a precision blast of water that cut fire blast in half.

"Fly up Charizard!" Ash yelled. Charizard roared and did just that, narrowly avoiding the stream of water that impacted on the back wall and cracked it.

"Pikachu, jump and use volt tackle on the whirlpool." I ordered.

"Chu." He acknowledged. He jumped and aimed a volt tackle straight at the centre of the whirlpool.

"Now spin in the same direction as the whirlpool!" I added.

"No way! What's she doing?" Dawn asked.

Pikachu began to spin with the whirlpool. When he connected with it the electricity from volt tackle spread through it as he passed right through the body of water. He came out the other end and charged at Piplup.

"Now Tackle!" I smirked. "Game over Dawn."

Pikachu tackled Piplup and the electrified water from whirlpool followed the electrical energy from Pikachu into Piplup, causing additional damage.

Piplup fell to the floor, crackling with electricity, and didn't move.  
Dawn mimicked her Pokémon and fell onto all fours. Tears hitting the ground under her face.

"In an amazing two hit combination Piplup and Pearl are out of this battle. Can Charizard and Diamond keep them in the game?" Marion said as she voiced the question on everyone's mind.

Misty had been keeping Ash busy. He was on the defensive, keeping Charizard in the air to quickly dodge any water attacks.

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt!" I gave the order.

"Pika- Chuuuuu!" Was the sound that emenated from Pikachu's mouth as the powerful bolt of lightning surged towards Charizard.

Ash saw it and cringed. "Ugh. Charizard use flamethrower!" He ordered.

Charizard roared as a powerful gout of flame shot from its mouth and impacted with Pikachu's thunderbolt.

"The attacks are perfectly even!" Marion shouted. "If no one gains the upper hand soon then both contestants will lose!"

"Misty!" I shouted.

"I'm on it." She called back. "Swampert use water sport."

"Swampert!" It bellowed as it aimed it's head to the roof. A powerful water jet shot from Swampert's mouth before it came back down as a fine mist, weakening Charizard's flamethrower.

Pikachu's thunderbolt turned some of the mist to steam which made the electricity stronger and acted as a stone wall to Charizard's flamethrower.

The electricity barreled into Charizard. The dragon roared in pain before it fell to the ground and hit with a thump.

"Battle is over!" Marion called as the crowd cheered.

I looked at the timer. There was four minutes left on the timer.

"No need for judging. This battle and the contest belongs to Ruby and Sapphire. To the victor go the spoils. May and Misty, you can collect your prizes." Marion reminded us.

I picked up Dawns contest pass. "No more contests for you Dawn." I whispered.

Misty picked up the Cascade badge. "No win, no badge." I heard her mutter.

Dawn ran out crying before Ash stormed out.

After we got our ribbons we went back to the hotel, got changed and sat on the edge of the roof. Pikachu was curled up on top of the stairwell door.

"That was fun." Misty remarked.

"It was wasn't it?" I asked.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"I'm guessing you'll be heading back to Kanto tomorrow?" I asked her.

"Maybe. I might actually travel with you. I miss those days of travelling the world. Even if you are travelling through Johto I'd like to go back and see the sights and friends we met." She told me. "Plus I've grown accustomed to being around you." She began to blush. "I think I may actually be falling for you May."

I started blushing too. "Wow really?" I asked.

"Really. We'd make a good couple you and I." She remarked as she leant closer to me.

"We would wouldn't we?" I still couldn't believe it.

"We would." She answered. She was leaning on my shoulder now

I just smiled and wrapped my arm around her.

I heard the stairwell door open. Misty leant off me and stood up. When the elevator dinged I stood up too.

We walked to the centre and stood back to back. I heard Pikachu say something and glanced over to him. Him and a Piplup were circling each other.

"May." I heard someone say.

"Misty." Someone else said.

Ash stepped out of the elevator. I could only guess who was at the stairwell.

"Ash." I said.

"Dawn." I heard Misty say.

"Because of you two, Dawn didn't get her ribbon. And she'll never get the chance to compete for another one." Ash said.

"Yeah that's pretty much the idea." I responded

"Well we're here to get our payback." Ash said.

"What do you…" I was cut short by the sounds of a struggle behind me. I turned and saw Misty and Dawn in a grapple. When I went to help Ash grabbed my vest and picked me up and walked over to the edge.

"Dawns fine with just knocking you out physically. But I think we deserve something bigger." Ash said.

"You wouldn't!" I panicked, my feet were now over nothing but a fifty foot drop.

"I would." He smiled evilly, drew me back onto the ledge and then thrust his arm out and let go.

My bandanna flew off after about five feet. I couldn't hear anything but the wind rushing through my ears as I fell. I watched the rooftop and saw Misty's limp body hanging off before she too was thrown off the edge. Pikachu came shortly after that. They were both unconscious. I could tell by the way they fell.

I rotated to see how much longer it was going to be before I hit the ground and was caught by surprise. We were underneath a pool. His plan made sense now. He hoped that the fall would knock me out so that we'd drown in the pool.

I landed in the pool and swam for the surface immediately. I wiped my face with my hand and realised how lucky I was that the pool was deep.

Misty fell in next to me. I swam down, got underneath her and pushed her out. Pikachu wasn't far behind. When he fell in I just pulled his pokeball out of the section of my pack and returned him. I quickly pulled myself out and dragged Misty into the bushes by the hotel.

I moved her bag out from underneath her, tipped the water out of her mouth and checked her breathing and pulse.

"She's alive." I sighed. I felt tears well up in my eyes until I couldn't hold it in anymore. I lifted her torso off the ground and hugged her, crying.

When she came to I was still crying. "What happened?" She asked.

I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Ash just threw us fifty feet off the hotel roof and we survived. If it hadn't been for the pool we'd have died."

Misty let it all sink in before she returned my hug. When we broke off the hug we gazed into each other's eyes for a bit before we kissed. This kiss was better than the one she had given me yesterday. This was a true passion kiss. We were soaking wet, hiding in some bushes and making out.

Time had lost all meaning by the time we stopped.

"Come on." I said, and helped her up. "If we've got everything I know how we can leave tonight."

"Everything I had when I arrived is in my bag." Misty told me as she picked up her bag.

"Same here. Come on let's go." I nodded and started walking to the beach.

When we reached the beach I took out my Manaphy brooch and held up the bracelet Lizabeth gave me. The brooch began to glow as I moved the bracelet closer.

A voice emenated from the ocean.

"Mama has summoned me."

I whispered back to it "Yes sweetie. Mama has."

Manaphy surfaced, riding a Whailord.

"Mama and her friend need some help?" Manaphy asked as he flew into my arms.

"We do sweetie. We need a ride to Johto." I told him.

"Okay Mama. Jump on." He said as the Whailord lowered itself enough for Misty and I to climb on. We climbed onto it's back and watched as the hotel shrank in the distance. Pikachu had fallen asleep in Misty's arms and Manaphy was asleep in mine.

"Why does that Pokémon call you mama?" Misty asked me.

"Same reason Togepi thought you were its mother." I smiled as I rocked my arms back and forth.

"Really brings out the mother in you doesn't it?" She laughed.

"It does." I responded.

I pulled Beautifly's pokeball out and released it. Using it's string shot I tied it's pokeball around its neck and erased the note Ash had written and wrote a note for my mom to take care of Beautifly for me.

"Go home Beautifly." I told it.

"Beautifly." It said before it flew off ahead of us to Hoenn.

I pulled my brooch out again and opened it up. Inside was a pokeball strong enough to keep Manaphy contained. I gently tapped it against his forehead and captured him before I put the ball back inside the brooch and closed it. I returned Pikachu before Misty and I fell asleep on top of one another as the sun rose.


End file.
